Between Gates (The Gate Chronicles Book 1)

Chapter 10: Missions

The sculpture on his desk suddenly became far more interesting than anything else in the room, and she stared at it, avoiding his gaze. The blue was a nice bright spot in the rest of the room, but it was making her sleepy again. She looked away, opting to stare at her lap instead.

Andrew grimaced. “I don’t know about that. I can guess that Amory is planning on setting himself up as dictator of the MBC and Earth. He told me he wanted to rule the world the day before he left.”

Nari nodded, understanding. “That’s what I thought too.”

Andrew sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Go get some rest, Nari. I’m sure you need it after that episode. I’ll figure out this mess from here.”

She gave him a concerned look, but he brushed it off. “Go on. I’ll be fine.”

“Yes, sir!” Nari walked to the lightweight, metal door, pushing it open and walking out of the office, leaving Andrew to contemplate what to do about the problem.

***

Chenn sat on his bunk at East Base tapping out a steady rhythm with his fingers against his book. The grey steel and white walls. The steel framed bunks with a single grey blanket and sparse white pillow. All of it reminded him of the prison where he’d spent ten years of life.

He closed his eyes. It was too much. Those ten years had been a nightmare, only he hadn’t been able to wake up and stop living it. It was what had made him so reclusive and afraid of people.

I spent all those years in jail for that little girl's death. He buried his face in his hands. It was all my fault too. If I hadn't moved out of the way just as that man pulled the trigger, she would still be alive. I might as well have pulled the trigger myself. She died just as surely as if I had. Moaning, he tried to stop the thought train before it got to close and hurtful. These things were not memories he wanted to dredge up.

"Get up, you lousy killer! You oughta be ashamed o' yourself killin' little girls!"

"It was an accident. I didn't pull the trigger."

"What you here for, runt?"

He resisted the urge to wail. He'd had enough living through all of it once. He didn't need to live through it again. But snatches of conversations and memories he had continued to jumble in his mind.

"You killed a little kid? Man, that's worse than what I done. You oughta die for it. Why haven't they killed you yet?"

"I know. I'm awful. I should die for not stopping the bullet that killed her."

"What kind of person kills a defenseless little girl?"

"I didn't kill her."

"The police found you holding the smoking gun, you lousy liar."

And so it went.

 He wished he had something else to do. Anything, really. Just so long as it distracted him from the claustrophobic feelings this place created.

Someone walked in. He opened his eyes to see Vanessa staring at him, a pouty snarl twisting her face. He almost welcomed her ornery presence. It was a distraction from the awful memories he held within him.

That time in prison had sobered him. It had taken much of the life out of him, and he was burdened with guilt for what had happened. Once he had been a spunky kid, full of fun. He'd been a happy kid too. Or at least, mostly happy. He'd lived in an orphanage for nearly four years after his mother died, but the people who ran it had been kind to him. Even when the other orphans weren't kind. Which was most of the time.